This version (11 Nov 2022 13:41) was approved by Raluca Chis.The Previously approved version (11 Nov 2022 12:39) is available.
Table of Contents
Linux on the Xilinx FPGA development Board
This content is purely informational, and the best place for questions about this content is normally Xilinx, or a friendly consultant (who you will pay), or trainer. These instructions work for us. That does not mean they are complete, accurate, or supported.
This guide provides some step-by-step instructions on how to build a Microblaze Linux Kernel image for the FMC board connected to an
Required Software
- Microblaze GNU Toolchain (See note below)
Microblaze gnu toolchain from Xilinx is no longer available on git. Please use gnu tools from Vitis installation as below:
Dave@HAL9000:~/linux$ export PATH=/opt/Xilinx/Vitis/2021.1/gnu/microblaze/linux_toolchain/lin64_le/bin/:$PATH
Dave@HAL9000:~/linux$ export ARCH=microblaze
Dave@HAL9000:~/linux$ export CROSS_COMPILE=microblazeel-xilinx-linux-gnu-
Latest released files can be downloaded from here
Build Linux - Step by Step instructions
Get Microblaze Little Endian Toolchain from Xilinx
Download the Vivado Vitis from here Download And make sure you followed the instructions for Microblaze GNU Toolchain
Get Linux kernel source
This specifies any shell prompt running on the development host
Dave@HAL9000:~$ git clone https://github.com/analogdevicesinc/linux.git Cloning into 'linux'... remote: Counting objects: 2757163, done. remote: Compressing objects: 100% (495484/495484), done. remote: Total 2757163 (delta 2296596), reused 2687337 (delta 2234506) Receiving objects: 100% (2757163/2757163), 782.04 MiB | 1.39 MiB/s, done. Resolving deltas: 100% (2296596/2296596), done. Dave@HAL9000:~$
Checkout master branch
This specifies any shell prompt running on the development host
Dave@HAL9000:~$ cd linux/ Dave@HAL9000:~/linux$ git checkout master Checking out files: 100% (16412/16412), done. Branch master set up to track remote branch master from origin. Switched to a new branch 'master' Dave@HAL9000:~/linux$
Set Environmental Variables
This specifies any shell prompt running on the development host
Dave@HAL9000:~/linux$ source /opt/Xilinx/Vivado/2021.1/settings64.sh Dave@HAL9000:~/linux$ export ARCH=microblaze Dave@HAL9000:~/linux$ export CROSS_COMPILE=microblazeel-xilinx-linux-gnu-
Instead of sourcing the Vivado settings64.sh script you can alternatively add your microblaze gcc toolchain directly to your PATH variable:
Dave@HAL9000:~/linux$ export PATH=/opt/Xilinx/Vitis/2021.1/gnu/microblaze/linux_toolchain/lin64_le/bin/:$PATH
Configure Kernel
This specifies any shell prompt running on the development host
Dave@HAL9000:~/linux$ make adi_mb_defconfig # # configuration written to .config # Dave@HAL9000:~/linux$
Get Root File-System
The root file system or rootfs contains everything (besides the Linux kernel itself) needed to support a full Linux system. It contains all the (user) applications, configurations, services, data, etc. Without the rootfs your Linux system cannot run. You can either just download the pre-build image or build it yourself. Instructions can be found here: Building with buildroot
rootfs.cpio.gz rootfs.cpio.gz must be placed in the root of your kernel tree. (~/linux/rootfs.cpio.gz)
This specifies any shell prompt running on the target or development host
Dave@HAL9000:~/linux$ wget https://swdownloads.analog.com/cse/microblaze/rootfs/rootfs.cpio.gz --2022-01-18 09:52:08-- https://swdownloads.analog.com/cse/microblaze/rootfs/rootfs.cpio.gz Resolving swdownloads.analog.com (swdownloads.analog.com)... 23.63.205.142 Connecting to swdownloads.analog.com (swdownloads.analog.com)|23.63.205.142|:443... connected. HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK Length: 6772207 (6,5M) [application/x-gzip] Saving to: ‘rootfs.cpio.gz’ rootfs.cpio.gz 100%[===============================================================================================================>] 6,46M 3,32MB/s in 1,9s 2022-01-18 09:52:12 (3,32 MB/s) - ‘rootfs.cpio.gz’ saved [6772207/6772207] Dave@HAL9000:~/linux$
Build kernel
The result of building the kernel is an elf file in arch/microblaze/boot named simpleImage.<dts file name> based on the dts specified.
The build process for the kernel searches in the arch/microblaze/boot/dts directory for a specified device tree file and then builds the device tree into the kernel image.
The following command shows the general format for the build target name. Note that the <dts file name> does not include the file extension “.dts”.
Dave@HAL9000:~/linux$ make simpleImage.<dts file name>
To see what device-trees for the different FPGA carrier and FMC module combination exist type:
Dave@HAL9000:~/linux$ ls -l arch/microblaze/boot/dts
This specifies any shell prompt running on the target or development host
Dave@HAL9000:~/linux$ make -j4 simpleImage.vcu118_quad_ad9081_204c_txmode_23_rxmode_25_onchip_pll_revc_nz1 SYNC include/config/auto.conf.cmd CC scripts/mod/empty.o CC scripts/mod/devicetable-offsets.s MKELF scripts/mod/elfconfig.h HOSTCC scripts/mod/modpost.o HOSTCC scripts/mod/sumversion.o HOSTCC scripts/mod/file2alias.o [ --snip-- ] AR init/built-in.a LD vmlinux.o MODPOST vmlinux.symvers MODINFO modules.builtin.modinfo GEN modules.builtin LD .tmp_vmlinux.kallsyms1 KSYMS .tmp_vmlinux.kallsyms1.S AS .tmp_vmlinux.kallsyms1.S LD .tmp_vmlinux.kallsyms2 KSYMS .tmp_vmlinux.kallsyms2.S AS .tmp_vmlinux.kallsyms2.S LD vmlinux SORTTAB vmlinux SYSMAP System.map OBJCOPY arch/microblaze/boot/simpleImage.vcu118_quad_ad9081_204c_txmode_23_rxmode_25_onchip_pll_revc_nz1 SHIPPED arch/microblaze/boot/simpleImage.vcu118_quad_ad9081_204c_txmode_23_rxmode_25_onchip_pll_revc_nz1.unstrip STRIP vmlinux arch/microblaze/boot/simpleImage.vcu118_quad_ad9081_204c_txmode_23_rxmode_25_onchip_pll_revc_nz1.strip UIMAGE arch/microblaze/boot/simpleImage.vcu118_quad_ad9081_204c_txmode_23_rxmode_25_onchip_pll_revc_nz1.ub Image Name: Linux-5.10.0-97916-g513446e488c3 Created: Tue Jan 18 12:07:35 2022 Image Type: MicroBlaze Linux Kernel Image (uncompressed) Data Size: 18398124 Bytes = 17966.92 KiB = 17.55 MiB Load Address: 80000000 Entry Point: 80000000 Kernel: arch/microblaze/boot/simpleImage.vcu118_quad_ad9081_204c_txmode_23_rxmode_25_onchip_pll_revc_nz1 is ready (#3678) Dave@HAL9000:~/linux$
The STRIP image found under arch/microblaze/boot/ is the ELF image which can be loaded via the debugger
Boot Kernel on FPGA Microblaze
Then one method to load the kernel onto the already built and running FPGA which has the Microblaze processor is to launch XMD or XSDB from the Xilinx Vivado toolset from within …/linux/arch/microblaze/boot and run from the XMD or XSDB shell:
XMD has been deprecated and will be removed in the future. XSDB/XSCT replaces XMD and provides additional functionality. Xilinx recommends you switch to XSDB for command line debugging. You can find more information about these tools in the Embedded System Tools Reference Manual (UG1043)
For XMD:
xmd> fpga -f system_top.bit xmd> connect mb mdm xmd> dow simpleImage.vc707_fmcomms2-3 xmd> run
For XSDB or XSCT:
xsdb> connect
xsdb> fpga -f system_top.bit
xsdb> targets
1 xcku040
2 MicroBlaze Debug Module at USER2
3 MicroBlaze #0 (Running)
xsdb> targets 3
xsdb> dow simpleImage.kcu105_fmcdaq2
xsdb> con
Configure and loading using a TCL script
Example TCL script:
- run.tcl
run.vcu118_quad_ad9081_204c_txmode_23_rxmode_25_onchip_pll_revc_nz1.tcl connect fpga -f system_top.vcu118_quad_ad9081_204c_txmode_23_rxmode_25_revc.bit after 1000 target 3 dow simpleImage.vcu118_quad_ad9081_204c_txmode_23_rxmode_25_onchip_pll_revc_nz1.strip after 1000 con disconnect
From XSDB or XSCT:
xsdb> source run.tcl
(more details, methods of how to get bit file and kernel on flash and/or boot off SD Card is appreciated)
resources/tools-software/linux-drivers/platforms/microblaze.txt · Last modified: 11 Nov 2022 13:41 by Raluca Chis